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Home› Hardware Receipts› Apple Watch Ultra 3 vs Sonos Era 300

Apple Watch Ultra 3 VS Sonos Era 300

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Sonos Era 300
Verdict DROP IT DROP IT
The Reality The feature has a real, documented history of simply not being available to US buyers. After the US International Trade Commission ruled the blood oxygen sensor infringed two Masimo patents, Apple disabled blood oxygen sensing on US-sold Apple Watches in January 2024 to keep selling the watch at all, and it stayed off for roughly a year and a half. In August 2025 Apple restored a redesigned version -- but the workaround processes the sensor's raw data on a paired iPhone rather than the watch itself, and results can only be viewed on the iPhone, not the watch face. The ITC formally closed the case in April 2026, ending Masimo's ability to revive the ban, but the underlying legal fight ran for over two years. The 'all existing functionality remains the same' promise did not hold up. Customers immediately reported missing or broken features including speaker grouping, queue management, alarms, local music-library access, and the ability to reliably switch between streaming services. Over 30,000 customer complaints followed across forums, app reviews, and social media, and the backlash contributed to a roughly 25% decline in Sonos's stock. CEO Patrick Spence did not publicly apologize until two months after the May 2024 rollout, acknowledging 'significant problems,' and by January 2025 the failed launch had wiped nearly $500 million from Sonos's market value and cost Spence his job.
SHORT ANSWER

Apple Watch Ultra 3: Apple Watch's blood oxygen feature was legally disabled for US buyers for about 20 months (January 2024-August 2025) after Apple lost a patent case to Masimo, and its restored version now only works by processing data on a paired iPhone rather than the watch itself.

Sonos Era 300: Sonos promised its May 2024 app redesign would keep all existing functionality intact; instead, customers lost alarms, queue management, library access, and reliable service-switching, triggering 30,000+ complaints, a ~25% stock decline, and the CEO's eventual resignation.